Reports provided by the appointed joint task team which was assigned to carry out the investigation of the fire break out that happened in Herat customs office. The team demonstrated corruption and negligence as the causes for this sudden fire explosion and its rapid expansion.
Causes
For carrying out the tests of fuels, the Afghanistan National Standards Authority and TCRC Company had received the money. The fire exploded after the passing of a motorbike while sample testing was being carried out. After this, the duties assigned to officials and commissioners was mismanaged and corruption is considered as the reason behind this break out.
One more reason, trucks could not escape through the fire because of the holes in the surrounding of customs area. The truck drivers told the reason for digging those holes so that custom officials can blackmail them. They can get 7000-8000 Afs from each truck. Such pits have been dug around approximately 5000 trucks and the only route through which trucks can pass was 3 meters wide. So, if any truck is facing a technical problem, then the rest have no option but to wait.
Incidental fire
The police shot a fire in the leg of the driver when he insisted on letting him escape the fire because the police officer demanded 1000 from the driver before he can go away. Also, based on the results, it is claimed that around 1000 trucks were burned because of fire break out which caused damage of millions of dollars. This made the investors to be less interested in carrying out their businesses through this customs office.
The failure and lack of interest of the customs officials made them to loose their trust in investors and truck drivers and caused a massive damage.
